Court Ruling Plunges Turkey's Main Opposition CHP into Leadership Crisis

A Party Divided

Kilicdaroglu stated he wanted to organize a clean and transparent party congress. His appearance was met with a mix of hope and anxiety among his backers. A 47-year-old female CHP member who supports Kilicdaroglu said she fears a split in the party.

A 43-year-old man from Istanbul who attended with his young daughter expressed even deeper concern. "Ich verlasse das Land, wenn es so weit kommt," he said, adding that he had placed great hope in Özgür Özel and believed Özel could bring change.

The crisis had already turned violent a week earlier. Police stormed the CHP headquarters using tear gas and rubber bullets after Kilicdaroglu's lawyer requested the building be cleared. Özel had barricaded himself inside with supporters for days before finally leaving and marching toward the parliament building in pouring rain, surrounded by a crowd.

Parallel Rallies and Accusations

Inside the headquarters entrance hall, the visual symbolism of the rift is stark: Özel's portrait as former party leader now hangs in black-and-white, while Kilicdaroglu's portrait as acting CHP leader is displayed in color.

Özel, meanwhile, held his own event a few kilometers away at Güven Park. Speaking from the roof of a bus bearing his image, he declared before thousands of supporters that the party chairmanship cannot be exercised by an appointed official. He called on Kilicdaroglu to face an internal party election and demanded an extraordinary party congress to contest the leadership again.

Özel described his dismissal as a strategy by President Erdogan to secure victory in the next election in 2028. The crowd chanted "Kilicdaroglu, Verräter," reflecting a widespread belief among Özel's supporters that Kilicdaroglu is being used as a government puppet to split and weaken the party.

A well-dressed pensioner at Özel's rally compared the government's actions to a punch splitting the party now that Özel had put it on a path to success. He also voiced economic grievances, complaining about high healthcare costs and food prices, saying he could only afford apples and oranges and could not eat fish last winter despite once having a good job.

Broader Political Pressure

The internal conflict has also resurfaced old grievances. Baris Bozkurt, a 51-year-old close to Kilicdaroglu who served as a warm-up speaker at CHP events for nearly three decades until Özel became party president, said his dismissal marked the beginning of the party's reform process under the new generation.

According to media reports, Kilicdaroglu's team bused in supporters from across the country out of fear of low turnout. Recent opinion polls underscore his fragile position: only five percent of surveyed CHP voters support him as party leader.

The power struggle comes against a backdrop of broader pressure on the opposition. Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, has been removed from office and arrested, and the CHP has increasingly been targeted by the Turkish judiciary since the 2024 local elections.